How to Break Your Anxiety Habit | Judson Brewer
Dr. Jud Brewer, a psychiatrist and deep dharma practitioner, discusses how anxiety is a habit that can be unwound using mindfulness. He explains how to map anxiety habit loops and use awareness to change one's relationship with anxious thoughts and feelings, especially during the pandemic.
Deep Dive Analysis
16 Topic Outline
Introduction: COVID-19's Mental Health Impact and Guest Introduction
Defining Anxiety: Feelings vs. Worry as a Mental Behavior
Anxiety as a Habit Loop: Trigger, Behavior, and Perceived Reward
Why Worrying is Unhelpful and Impairs Cognitive Function
Differentiating Physical Anxiety Sensations from Worry-Driven Thoughts
Assessing Anxiety Severity: Clinical vs. Everyday Experience
Step 1: Mapping Out Anxiety and Worry Habit Loops
Step 2: Updating Reward Value Through Awareness and Disenchantment
Step 3: Finding a Bigger, Better Offer (BBO) for the Brain
The Superpower of Curiosity: Deprivation vs. Interest Curiosity
The Interplay of Love, Kindness, and Openness in Practice
Historical Context vs. In-the-Moment Awareness for Change
Formal vs. Informal Meditation Practices for Unwinding Anxiety
Debunking the Yerkes-Dodson Law: Anxiety and Performance
Clarifying Fear vs. Anxiety in the Face of Uncertainty
Summary of Dr. Jud Brewer's Resources
8 Key Concepts
Anxiety (Dr. Brewer's Definition)
Anxiety is defined as both a physical feeling of nervousness or unease and as worry, which is a mental behavior. It's crucial to separate these two, as worry can be a behavior that drives and perpetuates anxiety habit loops.
Anxiety Habit Loop
This is a three-element process: a trigger (e.g., a negative emotion like fear), a behavior (e.g., worrying or avoiding), and a result/reward. The 'reward' for worrying can be a temporary distraction from more unpleasant feelings or a false sense of control, which paradoxically reinforces the anxiety.
Negative Reinforcement of Worry
Worry is negatively reinforced because it provides a temporary, albeit unhelpful, 'reward' by either distracting from the unpleasant feeling of fear or by giving a feeling of control. This reinforcement perpetuates the worry behavior, driving more anxiety.
Rescorla-Wagner Model (Reward Value)
This model describes how the brain stores and updates the reward value of behaviors. Awareness, through 'positive' or 'negative prediction errors' (when an outcome is better or worse than expected), is the only way to truly update these stored reward values and change habits.
Disenchantment
Rooted in ancient Buddhist psychology, disenchantment is the process of clearly seeing the unrewarding nature of old, unhelpful behaviors (like worrying or overeating). This clear seeing, facilitated by awareness, naturally leads the brain to drop those behaviors.
Deprivation Curiosity
This type of curiosity is driven by a lack of information, prompting the brain to seek answers. It often feels 'closed down' or like a rabbit hole, as the goal is to reach a destination of knowing.
Interest Curiosity
This form of curiosity focuses on the joy of discovery and exploring the journey itself, rather than needing a specific answer. It feels 'opened up' and is inherently more rewarding than deprivation curiosity.
Flow State
A state of optimal performance where an individual is completely absorbed in an activity, experiencing effortlessness, selflessness, and a merging of action and outcome. It is characterized by a complete absence of worries or anxiety.
7 Questions Answered
Dr. Brewer defines anxiety as both a physical feeling of nervousness or unease and as worry, which is a mental behavior. He emphasizes the importance of teasing these two aspects apart to understand how anxiety habit loops are formed.
Differentiating is crucial because physical feelings are just sensations, while worry is a mental behavior that can drive more worry. Worry can be negatively reinforced by distracting from fear or giving a false sense of control, perpetuating the anxiety habit loop.
Worry contributes to anxiety by creating a habit loop where anxiety triggers worry, and worry provides a temporary 'reward' (like distraction or a feeling of control), which then reinforces more worrying. This process can make anxiety worse and hinder the brain's ability to think and plan effectively.
The distinction is largely subjective, but a key indicator is whether the anxiety is causing a significant disturbance in one's life or ability to function. Clinical tools like the GAD-7 questionnaire can also provide a marker of severity.
No, formal meditation practice is not strictly required. Dr. Brewer's research suggests that informal mindfulness practices, such as short moments of awareness applied many times throughout the day in everyday contexts, are highly effective, especially for those just starting.
According to Dr. Brewer, based on a review of research, there is no evidence to suggest that anxiety actually helps performance. The idea of a 'sweet spot' for anxiety (the Yerkes-Dodson Law) is largely a myth, with data indicating that more anxiety generally leads to worse performance.
Fear is typically a short-term, reflexive, and evolutionarily adaptive response to an immediate threat, often peaking and then subsiding quickly. Anxiety, in contrast, is often a chronic, optional response characterized by uncontrolled worry, particularly in the face of uncertainty, and can be detrimental to well-being.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Map Anxiety Habit Loops
Identify and understand your anxiety and worry-related habit loops, including other related unhelpful habits (e.g., overeating, excessive social media), using a simple ’trigger, behavior, result’ framework. This helps to see how anxiety perpetuates itself.
2. Update Worry’s Reward Value
When you find yourself worrying, bring awareness to the present moment by asking: ‘What am I getting from this right now?’ (e.g., increased anxiety) and ‘Is this actually solving the problem?’ This helps your brain recognize the true unrewarding nature of worry.
3. Embrace Curiosity as BBO
Replace unrewarding anxiety and worry with curiosity, asking yourself what feels better: being anxious or being curious about that anxiety. Curiosity is an intrinsic, intrinsically rewarding ‘bigger, better offer’ that helps you step out of old habit loops.
4. Accept & Welcome Anxiety
Instead of resisting, trying to fix, or avoiding anxiety, practice simply being with and accepting the feelings as body sensations. This stops feeding the anxiety and allows for a shift in your relationship to it, as ‘what we resist persists’.
5. Practice Informal Mindfulness
Engage in ‘short moments many times’ of informal mindfulness throughout your day, such as mindfully eating, smoking, or simply noting anxiety sensations or taking a mindful breath. This helps establish the habit of awareness in context before formal meditation.
6. Differentiate Fear from Worry
Recognize that physical feelings of fear can be useful signals, but obsessive thinking (worry) triggered by fear is unhelpful and makes things worse by hindering clear thought and planning. Watch out for the latter.
7. Cultivate Interest Curiosity
Focus on ‘interest curiosity’ – the joy of discovery and exploring the journey – rather than ‘deprivation curiosity,’ which is about seeking to fill an information gap. Interest curiosity feels more open and rewarding.
8. Practice Brain Self-Compassion
When anxious, practice self-compassion by reminding yourself, ‘Oh, that’s how my brain works,’ recognizing that your brain is trying to protect you, even if it’s overreacting to non-threats. This helps to give your brain a break and break the cycle of self-judgment.
9. Focus on Present ‘What’
When dealing with unhelpful patterns, devote your energy to ‘what is happening right now’ rather than dwelling on ‘why’ it’s happening. Understanding the present pattern is more effective for changing habits than focusing on past origins.
10. Embrace Growth Zone Discomfort
When stepping out of your comfort zone into new, uncomfortable territory, recognize that this discomfort is a natural brain survival mechanism. Approach it with curiosity rather than panic to avoid reverting to old, unhelpful patterns.
11. Play the Tape Forward
To overcome unhelpful habits (e.g., drinking), practice ‘playing the tape forward’ by reflecting on past negative outcomes of the habit and comparing them to the present positive experience of not engaging in it. This helps update the brain’s reward value.
12. Use GAD-7 for Severity
Utilize the GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7) questionnaire, a common clinical tool, to gauge the severity of your anxiety, with scores indicating minimal (<5), mild (5-10), moderate (10-15), or severe (>15) anxiety.
13. Assess Life Disturbance
To determine if your anxiety is problematic, ask yourself if it is causing a disturbance in your life or disrupting your ability to function fully, rather than solely relying on symptom checklists.
14. Take Deep Breaths
When feeling worried, consciously take deep breaths, as this simple practice is phenomenally helpful in managing the physical sensations of worry and anxiety.
15. Avoid Unhelpful Compensatory Habits
Refrain from employing unhelpful compensatory mechanisms like excessive drinking, overeating, or social media addiction for news, as these habits solidify anxiety rather than addressing its root cause.
16. Cultivate Love and Kindness
Cultivate feelings of love and kindness, as they share the same core quality of ‘opening up’ and expansion as curiosity, helping you see the unrewarding nature of contraction and fostering connection.
8 Key Quotes
Anxiety is a habit, one that you can unwind.
Dr. Jud Brewer
Worrying not only is not helpful, but it actually makes things worse because we can't think and plan.
Dr. Jud Brewer
It's not about not having thoughts or emotions or sensations. It's about changing our relationship to them.
Dr. Jud Brewer
What we resist persists.
Dr. Jud Brewer
Our thinking brain doesn't hold a candle to our feeling body.
Dr. Jud Brewer
Curiosity feels better.
Dr. Jud Brewer
Forgiveness is giving up hope of a better past.
Dr. Jud Brewer
Can we be comfortable with the discomfort?
Dr. Jud Brewer
1 Protocols
Dr. Jud Brewer's 3-Step Method for Unwinding Anxiety
Dr. Jud Brewer- Map out anxiety and worry habit loops: Identify the trigger (e.g., a feeling of anxiety), the behavior (e.g., worrying or avoiding), and the perceived result/reward (e.g., temporary distraction or feeling of control). This can also be applied to other related unhelpful habits like overeating or excessive social media use.
- Update the reward value of worrying: When you notice yourself worrying, ask 'What am I getting from this right now?' and 'Is this actually solving the problem I hope it will solve?' Also, observe if you are resisting anxiety and what you gain from that resistance. This process helps your brain see the true unrewarding nature of the behavior.
- Find a Bigger, Better Offer (BBO): Once the brain recognizes an old behavior as unrewarding, it seeks something better. Replace unhelpful behaviors with intrinsically rewarding ones like curiosity, kindness, or connection. When feeling anxiety, cultivate 'interest curiosity' by gently exploring the physical sensations without diving into a narrative about why you're anxious.